If you're into Godzilla movies or shows like Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, you're a fan of the Japanese tokusatsu genre. And now tokusatsu lovers have a streaming service to call their own. We can exclusively reveal the first details of TokuSHOUTsu, a new streaming channel being added to Pluto TV. A joint effort between Pluto TV and Shout! Factory TV, TokuSHOUTsu is aimed at making Japanese shows like Ultraman and Super Sentai (the basis for the many incarnations of Power Rangers) more widely available to US audiences. Perhaps the biggest selling point is that TokuSHOUTsu will bring the wildly popular Kamen Rider to US shores for the first time. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=tokushoutsu-brings-kamen-rider-and-ultraman-to-america&captions=true"] Beginning at midnight PT on Tuesday, March 17, TokuSHOUTsu can be found on Pluto TV Channel 681 (in the Tech + Geek section). The channel will offer a mix of live, curated content and on-demand episodes of Kamen Rider: Season 1, Ultraman Leo and Super Sentai. The channel will include other original content such as Let's Talk Toku, a weekly talk show hosted by Squall Charlson, and relevant episodes of the documentary series Backlot that provide behind-the-scenes looks at franchises like Godzilla and Power Rangers. We had a chance to talk with both TokuSHOUTsu Channel Manager Ari Schonfeld and tokusatsu expert/former Mighty Morphin Power Rangers star Jason Narvy about what this new service has to offer fans of the genre. "TokuSHOUTsu came about because Shout! Factory is always looking for ways to diversify how fans enjoy content," said Schonfeld. "After all of the success we’ve had with physical releases of Super Sentai, this is just the natural progression. When Pluto TV reached out about wanting to collaborate on a new streaming channel, basing it around tokusatsu became a no-brainer because of our mutual interest in the genre." Narvy told us how exciting it is to finally have a resource making previously hard-to-find tokusatsu material accessible for American viewers. "Much more than other genres, toku fans outside of Japan had to work just to get their hands on the material. It has not (until now) been easy to acquire. The fans really were explorers who had discovered something unique. And there's a real desire to know Japanese culture as a result. Coming from America, where we tend to think the world revolves around us, it's refreshing to see fans who make their fandom something akin to being cultural ambassadors." Despite premiering way back in 1971, Kamen Rider didn't need much in the way of restoration or remastering work, according to Schonfeld. "TOEI did a great job keeping Kamen Rider in fantastic shape, so we did not need to restore the series, but we did add brand-new subtitles. It’s the first time the series has ever had English-language subtitles, so for American audiences, the series is going to look truly fantastic." Check out an exclusive clip from Kamen Rider's first episode below: [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/16/kamen-rider-comes-to-america-exclusive-episode-1-clip"] In addition to having major toku cred after playing iconic bully Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and several follow-up series, Narvy also happens to be a certified expert on the subject. He holds a PhD in Theatre Studies and currently teaches at Chicago's Concordia University. That expertise is what led to his current collaboration with Shout! Factory, and fans can look forward to his presence on upcoming episodes of Let's Talk Toku. "Look, I'm a fan of toku, as an actor I've become a storyteller of toku, and outside of that I'm an academic who deals with both pop culture heroes and canonical tragic ones--from the Gene Autry to Hamlet," said Narvy "Shout! Factory wanted me involved because they know I'm the crazy professor who could frame this genre as important, cross cultural, mythic storytelling in a fun as hell package. We have talked about future collaboration and just this morning I did my first appearance on Let's Talk Toku!" We couldn't pass up the opportunity to ask if Narvy has any plans to reprise his role as Skull (with his most recent appearance being in the series finale of Power Rangers Super Samurai in 2012). He told us, "Man, there's a guy you want out of your life, isn't he? Look, to see Bulk and Skull together again, to grow that character would be too much fun." Narvy continued, "It was strange when I did that cameo for Samurai and Paulie [Schrier] and Felix [Ryan] and I had that one little scene together, we really thought the scene gave more questions than answers. I mean, how do you do a comic moment between two best friends who are no longer hanging out? That's too close to depressing. And preparing for that scene, I thought it was really odd to think of those guys grown up. They were such juvenile delinquents. And it was hard to envision that those idiots could survive into adulthood. Shouldn't they have suffered some horrible accident that only the truly Walking Braindead would have? Or if they survived, would they be just middle aged criminals?  And what does that say about Darwinism if the dumbest survive? No one from the old days in Angel Grove is around except Bulk and Skull???  I guess it's like Paulie and I always say: Heroes come and go, but idiots are forever." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-best-mighty-morphin-power-rangers-episodes&captions=true"] Finally, we asked Schonfeld why he feels the tokusatsu genre has seen such a resurgence in popularity lately. What's fueling the renewed obsession with all things Power Rangers or demand for that lavish Godzilla box set from The Criterion Collection? "I think the Internet plays a big part in it," said Schonfeld. "It’s easier than ever to find others with mutual interests and whenever that occurs, fringe movements that might have been shunned in the past have a chance to see more light. It’s just natural for barriers to erode over time when you have a product that is as special as tokusatsu is. It’s also a genre where even if you’ve never seen the original shows, you’ve seen the influence of them because it’s absolutely everywhere.  The truly great always finds a way to shine through." TokuSHOUTsu will be available on all platforms that support Pluto TV, including Roku, Amazon Fire and Apple TV. Let us know if you'll be checking out this new streaming service in the comments below. For more on the ever-shifting streaming TV landscape, find out everything coming to NBCUniversal's Peacock and everything coming to WarnerMedia's HBO Max. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Gamescom's organisers have promised refunds should the event be forced to cancel due to coronavirus restrictions.

Gamescom's organisers have promised refunds should the event be forced to cancel due to coronavirus restrictions.

It's clear that Final Fantasy 7 Remake will expand the scope of the original game's Midgar section, but its developers have now confirmed that this will extend to adding entirely new areas to explore, alongside the familiar ones it's revisiting. In the first of a series of miniature documentaries about the game's development (which you can watch below), director Tetsuya Nomura explained that, upon watching playthroughs of the original game, he felt there was "more we could do" to take players across and around Midgar. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/16/inside-final-fantasy-7-remake-part-1-english-subs"] Specifically, Nomura talks about the upper city of Midgar (a city built across two layers, with slums at ground level, and an entire suspended city for more privileged citizens above them). "You travel through the slums [in the original game] quite a lot," explains Nomura, "but it didn’t really feel like we used the upper city all that much, and I thought we should have done that. Of course, you do go back to Midgar later and see some different scenes there, but I felt it would be nice if we could see more of the upper layer in the earlier part of the story." It seems, then, that we'll be seeing entirely new parts of Midgar in the course of the remake: "I thought it would be good to open up some of the locations, so players could explore more of those places that they wanted to see when they played the original", Nomura continues. "People wanted to go into this building or see that facility. So I think you will get even more of a feel for Midgar than you did the first time." You can see a brief clip of Cloud in the upper city in the video for our hands-on preview of the game. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=final-fantasy-7-remake-midgar-locations&captions=true"] Nomura does make clear that that wider scope of the exploration doesn't mean the game has become open world, and will still direct you through locations as the original did: "In Final Fantasy VII Remake you can’t go everywhere in the city, but the area you can walk around in has expanded a lot." Environment director Takako Miyake adds that the world isnt just wider, but denser. "The main theme for the design of the world is what would happen if Midgar existed in real life" she explains. "So, for the parts that were left to players' imagination, or that were off screen in the original, we added in a lot of convincing, realistic details to make them work as believable locations." Presumably, these new or expanded areas will tie into the game's new sidequests. Locations aren't the only major changes in the game - the game's altering how certain set piece events take place, such as changing the entire Sector 5 reactor section. After a delay, Final Fantasy 7 Remake will arrive on April 10, and will remain PS4 exclusive until April 2021. You can play a demo featuring the game's entire first chapter right now - and we can tell you how you get a secret ending. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News, and he accidentally writes 'Midgard' at least once per FF7R article. Follow him on Twitter.

It's clear that Final Fantasy 7 Remake will expand the scope of the original game's Midgar section, but its developers have now confirmed that this will extend to adding entirely new areas to explore, alongside the familiar ones it's revisiting. In the first of a series of miniature documentaries about the game's development (which you can watch below), director Tetsuya Nomura explained that, upon watching playthroughs of the original game, he felt there was "more we could do" to take players across and around Midgar. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/16/inside-final-fantasy-7-remake-part-1-english-subs"] Specifically, Nomura talks about the upper city of Midgar (a city built across two layers, with slums at ground level, and an entire suspended city for more privileged citizens above them). "You travel through the slums [in the original game] quite a lot," explains Nomura, "but it didn’t really feel like we used the upper city all that much, and I thought we should have done that. Of course, you do go back to Midgar later and see some different scenes there, but I felt it would be nice if we could see more of the upper layer in the earlier part of the story." It seems, then, that we'll be seeing entirely new parts of Midgar in the course of the remake: "I thought it would be good to open up some of the locations, so players could explore more of those places that they wanted to see when they played the original", Nomura continues. "People wanted to go into this building or see that facility. So I think you will get even more of a feel for Midgar than you did the first time." You can see a brief clip of Cloud in the upper city in the video for our hands-on preview of the game. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=final-fantasy-7-remake-midgar-locations&captions=true"] Nomura does make clear that that wider scope of the exploration doesn't mean the game has become open world, and will still direct you through locations as the original did: "In Final Fantasy VII Remake you can’t go everywhere in the city, but the area you can walk around in has expanded a lot." Environment director Takako Miyake adds that the world isnt just wider, but denser. "The main theme for the design of the world is what would happen if Midgar existed in real life" she explains. "So, for the parts that were left to players' imagination, or that were off screen in the original, we added in a lot of convincing, realistic details to make them work as believable locations." Presumably, these new or expanded areas will tie into the game's new sidequests. Locations aren't the only major changes in the game - the game's altering how certain set piece events take place, such as changing the entire Sector 5 reactor section. After a delay, Final Fantasy 7 Remake will arrive on April 10, and will remain PS4 exclusive until April 2021. You can play a demo featuring the game's entire first chapter right now - and we can tell you how you get a secret ending. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News, and he accidentally writes 'Midgard' at least once per FF7R article. Follow him on Twitter.

EA has cancelled every live competitive event for its games. The situation will continue until there is an “improvement” in the global coronavirus situation.

The situation applies to all events in EA’s competitive gaming series, which includes Apex Legends Global Series, EA Sports FIFA 20 Global Series, FIFA Online 4 Live Events and Madden NFL 20 Championship Series. The cancellation applies across both EA-operated and third-party organised events licensed by EA.

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The only exceptions to the cancellation are broadcasts that can be produced by individuals in remote locations, and online events.

In addition, EA also offered an update on its reaction to the spreading coronavirus issue. All employees across North America, Europe, and Australia are recommended to work from home until April 1, with just limited “business-critical” staff staying on-site. EA is also making sure vendors and contractors who can’t work remotely will still be paid.

EA remains confident that despite the impact of the virus, services for players will remain as normal. “We don’t anticipate major changes in our games or services as a result of our teams working from home,” says the company’s statement. “But we’re learning through this process as well and patience will be key. We’re constantly talking and working with our teams across the world to evolve with the situation.”

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The impact of COVID-19 (coronavirus) is being felt widespread across the games industry. Many major gaming events have been cancelled, including E3 2020. Closures go beyond the games sphere, too; many film and TV shows have halted their filming schedules, including all of Netflix’s original programming in the US and Canada and The Witcher season 2 in the UK.

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Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter.

EA has cancelled every live competitive event for its games. The situation will continue until there is an “improvement” in the global coronavirus situation.

The situation applies to all events in EA’s competitive gaming series, which includes Apex Legends Global Series, EA Sports FIFA 20 Global Series, FIFA Online 4 Live Events and Madden NFL 20 Championship Series. The cancellation applies across both EA-operated and third-party organised events licensed by EA.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/11/e3-cancelled-due-to-coronavirus-concerns-ign-daily-fix"]

The only exceptions to the cancellation are broadcasts that can be produced by individuals in remote locations, and online events.

In addition, EA also offered an update on its reaction to the spreading coronavirus issue. All employees across North America, Europe, and Australia are recommended to work from home until April 1, with just limited “business-critical” staff staying on-site. EA is also making sure vendors and contractors who can’t work remotely will still be paid.

EA remains confident that despite the impact of the virus, services for players will remain as normal. “We don’t anticipate major changes in our games or services as a result of our teams working from home,” says the company’s statement. “But we’re learning through this process as well and patience will be key. We’re constantly talking and working with our teams across the world to evolve with the situation.”

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=all-the-big-games-coming-in-2020&captions=true"]

The impact of COVID-19 (coronavirus) is being felt widespread across the games industry. Many major gaming events have been cancelled, including E3 2020. Closures go beyond the games sphere, too; many film and TV shows have halted their filming schedules, including all of Netflix’s original programming in the US and Canada and The Witcher season 2 in the UK.

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Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter.

Production on season two of Netflix’s The Witcher in the UK has been halted as the entertainment industry continues to grapple with the global Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. The news was first mooted by Witcher fansite Redanian Intelligence. IGN has confirmed that production on The Witcher has been paused for two weeks. The news follows confirmation just days ago that all of Netflix’s scripted television and film projects in the United States and Canada will go on hiatus for two weeks. This includes Stranger Things, which was shooting its fourth season before the unscheduled interruption. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-delayed-movie-due-to-coronavirus-so-far&captions=true"] TV production is halting across a wide spectrum of studios, with all NBC, Amazon, FX, and Apple TV+ series taking a break from filming as well. All of Marvel’s Disney+ shows have also paused production, including The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, and WandaVision. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/27/the-witcher-season-1-review"] The first season of the The Witcher proved to be a big hit for Netflix, which recently revealed a number of cast additions for season two. Fast 9’s Thue Ersted Rasmussen will be playing Eskel, a witcher from the School of the Wolf who established an early friendship with Geralt of Rivia, having been raised alongside him. He will be joining fellow witchers, Lambert and Coen, portrayed by Paul Bullion and Yasen Atour, respectively. Other new faces include Agnes Bjorn portraying Vereena, a lover of Nivellen (who is now confirmed to be played by Kristofer Hivju), along with Aisha Fabienne Ross as Lydia, Vilgefortz’ sorceress secretary, and Mecia Simson as Francesca, the queen of the elves of Dol Blathanna. The Witcher’s second season is set to premiere in 2021. For more,  read about the first season’s big “mistake” that will be rectified in the forthcoming episodes, and find out what showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich had to say about the new fantasy elements in the next season. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Luke is Games Editor at IGN's Sydney office. You can find him on Twitter every few days @MrLukeReilly.

Production on season two of Netflix’s The Witcher in the UK has been halted as the entertainment industry continues to grapple with the global Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. The news was first mooted by Witcher fansite Redanian Intelligence. IGN has confirmed that production on The Witcher has been paused for two weeks. The news follows confirmation just days ago that all of Netflix’s scripted television and film projects in the United States and Canada will go on hiatus for two weeks. This includes Stranger Things, which was shooting its fourth season before the unscheduled interruption. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-delayed-movie-due-to-coronavirus-so-far&captions=true"] TV production is halting across a wide spectrum of studios, with all NBC, Amazon, FX, and Apple TV+ series taking a break from filming as well. All of Marvel’s Disney+ shows have also paused production, including The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, and WandaVision. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/27/the-witcher-season-1-review"] The first season of the The Witcher proved to be a big hit for Netflix, which recently revealed a number of cast additions for season two. Fast 9’s Thue Ersted Rasmussen will be playing Eskel, a witcher from the School of the Wolf who established an early friendship with Geralt of Rivia, having been raised alongside him. He will be joining fellow witchers, Lambert and Coen, portrayed by Paul Bullion and Yasen Atour, respectively. Other new faces include Agnes Bjorn portraying Vereena, a lover of Nivellen (who is now confirmed to be played by Kristofer Hivju), along with Aisha Fabienne Ross as Lydia, Vilgefortz’ sorceress secretary, and Mecia Simson as Francesca, the queen of the elves of Dol Blathanna. The Witcher’s second season is set to premiere in 2021. For more,  read about the first season’s big “mistake” that will be rectified in the forthcoming episodes, and find out what showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich had to say about the new fantasy elements in the next season. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Luke is Games Editor at IGN's Sydney office. You can find him on Twitter every few days @MrLukeReilly.

Production on Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings series has stopped in the wake of disruption caused by the Covid-19 coronavirus, reports The New Zealand Herald. The Lord of the Rings series is the latest project to suspend filming, as TV shows and movies across the world are delaying production in response to the coronavirus outbreak. According to the Herald’s source a memo sent to the cast and crew of the Auckland-based project stated “there are no clear answers to when we will resume production.” “In an abundance of caution, UAP [Untitled Amazon Project] has suspended production for the next two (2) weeks commencing Monday, March 16,” said the alleged memo. “This is done in an environment where travel restrictions directed at the control of Covid-19 are issued daily by New Zealand and most other countries.” [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=amazons-the-lord-of-the-rings-every-confirmed-actor&captions=true"] Amazon recently revealed the first group of performers who will take part in Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings series, which includes Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Nazanin Boniadi, Tom Budge, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Charlie Vickers, and Daniel Weyman. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/11/19/lord-of-the-rings-series-gets-early-season-2-renewal-from-amazon-ign-now"] Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings doesn’t have a firm release date yet, but it has already been renewed for a second season. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Luke is Games Editor at IGN's Sydney office. You can find him on Twitter every few days @MrLukeReilly.